The lost millions waiting for their rightful owners

Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance is urging families and businesses to check if they are entitled to any of the “forgotten” millions of dollars held by the NSW Government.

“The NSW Office of State Revenue is holding more than 289,000 items of unclaimed money, worth around $138 million,” Mr Constance said.

“The money is held until it is claimed by its rightful owners, so now is good time to check to see if some of it is yours.”

Unclaimed money held by OSR could be from deceased estates, dividends, bonds, refunds, overpayments or other sources.

It is sent to OSR by government agencies, superannuation funds, local councils, and State Trustees because they have not been able to locate and return the money to its owners.

The items range in value from a $20 share dividend to more than $477,836 from the proceeds of a property sale.

In the past 12 months, OSR has paid 7139 claims worth $11.92 million. The largest payout was $405,798, from a trust fund account.

“One woman recently searched OSR’s website and was paid just over $108,000 after she found eleven forgotten share dividends,” Mr Constance said.

“Another woman was reunited with a forgotten deposit paid to a local council, which was worth almost $26,000.”

OSR publishes information about unclaimed money on its website to help reunite people with their lost funds. The website shows the name of the unclaimed money owner, the type and source of the funds and, if provided by the enterprise, the owner’s last known address. Owners must prove their identity and that they are entitled to the money before it is released.